Friday, April 30, 2010

Artist Inspiration Interview: Creative Experiments

With April coming to a close, I didn't want this month to pass without sharing some inspiration from a creative friend, Melanie Testa.

I recently had the honor and privilege of meeting Melly, (as she likes to be called), at the Spring Festival of Quilts in Chicago.

Melly's new book, Inspired to Quilt,is a favorite, and I was interested to find out a little more about the author, herself.

She was gracious enough to participate in an inspiration interview for The Red Door Studio.

So without further adieu...

1.What is your story, how did you become an artist?

I became an artist through focused effort and practice.

I have wanted to become an artist since I was a little girl, A friend of my fathers bought an oil paint set for me and I painted a picture of Annie, big poofy yellow hair, red dress and all. Art was always my favorite class. My first mixed media project that got into a 'major exhibition' was a completely fabricated TV dinner. I made food out of paper mache and placed it artfully into a metal tray with the proper segments-remember those? One large section for meat and three smaller sections for vegetables, mashed potatoes and a brownie in a pressed aluminum tin. I even created the box with realists graphics. It got into a local show in a gallery in New Haven Connecticut. My mother set up a date and a few friends went to see the show together. It was awesome.

2. What is your medium and why did you choose it?

Do I have to choose one? Mostly I work in cloth, I surface design, print and quilt whole cloth quilts using Procion MX dyes. But I also love to journal, visually, using gouache in watercolor journals. I really can't imagine working in any other medium. I know oil painters and admire their work, approach and style, I even understand the basics of the medium, but cloth is what works best for me. I sorta feel like this is a difficult question. I didn't really choose cloth, it chose me. I went with it and didn't look back.

3. What inspires you?

I love the human form, it is challenging to depict and beautiful. I am also taken by nature, birds and flowers. I have a degree in textile design and learned to draw flowers first and foremost. I have also had a longstanding love affair with birds and am right now working on a series that I am quite excited about. There is a list of 20 Common Birds in Decline. The trends for these birds can be reversed if we, as humans and stewards of the earth take action. I have begun creating one piece of art for each of the 20 on the list. Because fiber takes so long to complete, I am also creating prints in the form of stamps for each of the 20 birds.

I walked through a show of Helen Frankenthaler at the Yale Museum of Art a few years ago and had an epiphany of sorts. I began to day dream about how I could use monoprinting to build layers of color on cloth. Her work was so saturated and intense it took me for a mental ride. I remember standing in front of this piece and thinking about the intuitive nature of it. I am still working through some of those ideas.

5. Do you have set studio hours? How do you arrange your day as an artist?

If I limit computer tasks to a few hours in the morning, I can then focus and create artwork, class content and move forward on pieces that need completion for the rest of the day. I find that if I focus too much on trying to complete class proposals, send emails and check in the facebook that I feel cheated and drained. So limiting time spent on he computer works best. When that work piles up, I will spend a few days and plug away at it, but really need to reward myself with creative play afterward.

When I am unfocused and find myself unable to connect with myself artistically I find that putting my headphones on and listening to a book on tape will help me tune out on the world around me and will help me to hone in on a creative task. After about an hour, I find that I can stop listening through the headphone but remain focused creatively. It is important to figure out your own focus trick! And use it.

6. What is it that motivates you to keep making art? (aside from creating art for classes or books)

Making art keeps my mind clean and open. I stress less, I keep my focus on myself and what I can do to make this world better and more livable. Everything flows better.

7. What are you working on right now?

A new series I am calling The 20, I spoke about it before. Question #3

9. What is your favorite artwork from your book? Why?Still Life in Time. This would be my favorite from my book because the pitcher and bowls use a color hankie I found sodden on my town green ages ago. I carried this hankie with me for years. One day my cat got it, play with it and tore it up pretty badly. I was so mad! I stuffed the piece in a fabric bin and called it a day. When that piece came into being, I saw that ripped hankie and thought it would make a great china pattern!

9 comments:

I have been so lucky to have taken an online class with Melly and I own both her book and DVD. Whenever I am in a slump I pull out either her publications or you book and I then relax and refocus. You both amaze and inspire me. (No need to enter me in the drawing, as I own the book!) Have a great weekend.